Silk Caye Snorkeling: Explore a Tropical Island with Turtles, Rays, and Sharks
4.8
79 Ratings
Placencia
Experience the ultimate adventure at Silk Caye, a tropical island in Belize. Snorkel with turtles, rays, and sharks, and explore the vibrant coral reefs and diverse marine life.
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
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Peccary Hills National Park - Silk Cayes is our most popular snorkel destination and offers great scuba diving on the nearby Barrier Reef. A perfect getaway for whole family, Silk Cayes are part of a marine reserve established to protect the outer reef and has an abundance of marine life, tropical fish, and healthy corals.
Start with a briefing by the park rangers before your licensed snorkel guide leads you into the water to meet the local residents. If you have not snorkeled before, no problem; the guides are happy to teach and guide you! The snorkel guides will show you where to find the coral and the fascinating creatures who live there. Critters include lobsters, cleaner shrimp, arrow crabs, snapper, barracuda and more varieties of reef fish than you can count.
Around mid-day enjoy an authentic Belize style picnic lunch. Then head back into the water to explore more corals and denizens who make Silk Cayes their home. The best is yet to come! After the second snorkel expedition, you’ll head to a spot just inside the barrier reef where local fishermen clean their catch. You are almost certain to have close encounters with huge turtles, rays, and nurse sharks!
What's Included
- Lunch and Snacks
- Licensed Snorkel Guide
- Use of snorkeling equipment
- Towels
- Use of Snorkel Vests or Life Jackets (available on request)
- Park Fees
- Pickup and Drop off along the main road in Placencia Village
- Taxes
What's Not Included
- Pickup and Drop off outside of Placencia Village (can arrange for US$ 10.00 per person)
- Gratuities
- Alcoholic beverages
Additional Information
Silk Cayes is a marine reserve consisting of 3 small islands formerly known as the Queen Cayes. This Marine Reserve hosts over 25 species of reef fish, with a variety of coral and other marine life! The Silk Caye is one of healthiest areas in the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System due to its location and protected status. It is a great destination to snorkel, scuba dive or simply spend a day on the island! Snorkelers explore the reefs surrounding the islands. Scuba Divers explore the the barrier reef wall and other dive sites the Silk Cayes have to offer. As a bonus just before returning to Placencia, everyone has an opportunity to snorkel with rays, sharks and (usually) huge turtles in an area where the local fishermen clean their catch - when the critters hear the boat engines, they think it is meal time and come to the dive boat.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Infant meals not included.
Location
Splash Dive Centre
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(79 Ratings)
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Lightpacker296587
Apr 27, 2024
Would do it again - Well organized, great staff and an overall great snorkeling experience.
Everything is as described, the service was great, lunch was super easy and yummy....no complaints, only enjoyment
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gina_w
Mar 30, 2024
Snorkeling with a sea turtle - Swimming with a giant sea turtle in its natural habitat was the highlight for me. Our guides, Ulysses and Ian were thoughtful and knowledgeable.
Review provided by Viator
Clayton_a
Mar 29, 2024
Great family adventure - Overall a great experience for our family. We were with three kids, 9, 6, and 2 and Tatiana and Brian were great with them. Our oldest was stung by fire coral and they were quick to treat her and get her back in the water.
We Snorkeled Silke Caye first, then moved to a location to see various Rays, sharks and huge turtle. Finished the adventure in Ray Caye for a dip in a pool and opportunity for an adult beverage. Ulisis, the tour guide and Carlos the boat captain were very engaging and helpful. Would certainly book another trip with Splash again. (Apologies for any name misspelling)
Review provided by Viator
Lisa_r
Mar 25, 2024
My six-year-old son took... - My six-year-old son took a little while to get comfortable swimming in the ocean with the current. One of the guides stayed back with us to snorkel on the first stop, and then he was ready for the second. Another guide brought him around the reef swimming with him hanging into a lifevest, since it was too long of a swim for him to do on his own. We appreciate so much, the extra attention, our child needed. He had a great time and so did we all due to the extra attention from the crew.
Review provided by Viator
Joshua_k
Mar 8, 2024
Best snorkeling in my life - I got a complimentary upgrade to Glovers reef which is farther out. Since I was the only snorkeler (others were divers) I had a private guide all to me. Crews were friendly and they communicated well with all the details before the trip. Water was so clear and I saw tons of fish, stingrays and sharks. It was well worth getting up at 5am!
Review provided by Viator
Mncooke214
Mar 5, 2024
Wow! Dolphins too! - Wonderful trip, exceeded what we were hoping to see. The snorkel dives were well run, super safe, informative and fun! Saw lots of fish, some barracuda, beautiful corel, turtles, rays.
Best of all, on our trip back we encountered some playful dolphins, we stopped the boat and swam with them too! Absolutely incredible.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Macthetraveler
Mar 2, 2024
Great snorkeling experience - We had a great time snorkeling with Splash. There is so much natural beauty surrounding this tiny island, and then they took us to another location to see big turtles, sting rays, sharks and more. Our guide was wonderful (I believe her name was Nedia (sp?). She was incredibly knowledgable, plus a ton of fun. They offer wetsuits because the water is a tad cold, the lunch was really good and the team made you feel safe. The entire experience gets a thumbs up!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Isabelle_a
Feb 22, 2024
Excellent Excursion! - It was a great trip! The snorkeling guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out all the fish and aquatic life around us.
Review provided by Viator
Chance_b
Feb 6, 2024
Snorkeling - We had a great time! The weather was perfect. We rode a boat out about 45 mins to Laughing Bird Caye. We snorkeled the 1st session and saw so many different fish. We took a lunch break and had a great Belizean meal then went out snorkeling for our 2nd session. Our guide, Danny, was very knowledgeable. It was a very fun group of staff.
Review provided by Viator
Roamingmenehune
Mar 27, 2024
Take care… - I would not use this company for your tours. They are disorganized and unsafe.
To start, we waited over 45 minutes for them to get the boat for our snorkeling trip, with the only explanation being that the assistant didn’t know where the boat was or why it wasn’t there. Moments after we had finally set out, one of the guides noted that they’d forgotten 3 people so we went back to the first pier, and then a second pier bc they didn’t know where the people were. The seats were already full, and the addition of these three additional passengers required all of the Splash staff to sit on the edges of the boat bc there were no seats remaining inside the cabin. As they joined, one of the guests asked the captain if the boat was certified for this many passengers, and the captain said yes. However once the guest asked to see the licensing placard for the boat, we saw that the maximum capacity was 11 people, not the 24+ that were aboard the boat. The captain also agreed that the documentation said 11 people max. While the captain said there were 22 life jackets, they were all behind a closed cabinet, not on any of the passengers.
Despite the guides & the captain being kind, this is dangerous and a clear violation of what the boat was licensed for, and a clear example of a company putting profits over passenger safety.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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